The United States of America

 Geography

The USA is the 4th largest country in the world after Russia, Canada and China; southern border is shared with Mexico, northertn with Canada; eastern bank is washed by Atlantic Ocean westearn by Pacific Ocean. The USA have two states lying off the continantal part – Alaska and Hawaii.

The country is cast that it covers a wide variety of distinct geographical regions. The west is very mountainous with the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges. The Cordilla mountain range, also in the west occupies one half of the continental US including the Rocky mountains in Colorado and the famous Grand Canyon. Moving east, we find more lowlands, flatlands, and hilly plateus, such as the Mississippi Basin. Yet, there are mountains in the east, most significantly Appalachians which are geograohically the oldest in US. The highest peak can be found in Alastka – it’s Mt. McKinley (6,149m).

The US has many rivers. The largest are the Mississippi and the Missouri. The Hudson River in the east is important because it connects with Great Lakes with build chanel. (Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie
and Lake Ontario). In the west, there are the Colorado, the Columbia and the Rio Grande which marks the border with Mexico.

The climate varies with the geography in the US. There are vast climatic differences across the fifty states. The warmest climates can be found in Hawaii, Florida and California where there are tropical and semi-tropical regions. In contrast, in the northeast and Midwest, the climate is more severe, featuring four season and cold winters, However, the most extreme arctic climate is of course in Alaska.

History

The American continent was first discovered around the year 1000 by Vikings sailing under Leif Ericson (before them went to America people from Siberia over the Bering Straight on October 12, 1492 discovered America Spanish mariner Christopher Columbus. Later Amerigo Vespucci map the eastern bank and is possible that the continent is called America by him.

The first colony was founded in Virginia at Jamestown in 1607 in 1620 the Mayflower brought 102 English men to Massachusetts, where they founded Plymouth colony; they were Puritans and called themselves Pilgrim Fathers; in October 1621 they celebrated their first harvest and called this day the day of Thanksgiving. (Story with Indians).

In 1773 Boston Tea Party happen and it leads to War of independence on July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson. But the war of independence ends 1783. In 1787 Benjamin Franklin and many others create new Constitution establishing the new democratic American government. George Washington become the first president of the USA from 1789 to 1797. He became a national hero known for honesty, integrity and leadership.

Economic and political differences grown between Northern and Southern states. Southern states were based on agriculture and slaves in contrast the Northern states were more industrial and slavery was illegal. This tension between states leads to that the Northern states formed a Union (1860) and the Southern formed Confederacy (1861). During the presidency of Abraham Lincoln these two part of country encountered in Civil War (1861 – 1865). The North was victorious and the slavery was abolished. But this problem of inequality lasts till 1960’s when Martin Luther King Jr. leads Civil Right movement and even now is still a fragile theme.

Political system

The political system is based on the federal government of the USA established by the Constitution which was ratified in 1788. The power is divided this way:
The Legislative – both Houses of Congress (Senators and Representatives)

The Executive – the President and the Executive office

The Judicial – the Supreme Court and Federal courts

The Congress (both parts) is responsible for drafting and passing laws, handling matters on national finance, ensuring the defense of nation (with President), admitting new states to the Union etc.

The Senate is composed of 100 Senators, two for each state; they are elected for six-year terms and every two years is the one third of them renewed. Senate must approve president’s appointments and ratify foreign treaties.

The House of Representatives – is composed of 435 Representatives who are elected for two-year terms; the number of Representatives is based on state population (the greatest number has California); is responsible for originating all bills relating to taxes.

 The major political parties are Democratic and Republican, the president is elected every 4 years, may serve maximum two terms in office, must be over 35 years old, born in USA and have lived for 14 years there; the President is Commander-in-chief of Armed Forces, he appoints all ambassadors, ministers and consuls.

 The Executive Office is President’s personal staff, has 14 departments (Department of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Energy and Veterans Affaires); includes number of independent agencies – the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

 The Judiciary branch is composed of a three-level hierarchy; Federal districts courts (94), US courts of appeal (13) and the US Supreme Court (eight Justices and Chief Justice).

Economy

The USA is leader of world economy it’s highly developed in industry (steel, cars, electronics, machinery, clothing) also agriculture (corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, tobacco, cattle, breeding, fruit, vegetables) where work just 2 % of population and despite that the USA produce 20% of world agriculture products. The USA is also rich in mineral resources (coal, copper, oil, gas, metals). The country is nearly self-sufficient in every economic sphere.

Places of interest

Detroit – headquarters of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors
Mt. Rushmore – the mountain with colossal portrait heads of US
Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt (carved
by sculptor Gutzon Borghum)
Las Vegas – Hollywood – the center of film industry
the Grand Canyon
Salt Lake City

Hollywood:

It´s in Los Angeles in California. Since 20th century the U.S. film industry was situated around Hollywood. The major studios of Hollywood have produced the most commercially movies in history such as Star Wars and Titanic.